Car-loading apparatus



P. R. GRAY.

CAR LOADING APPARATUS.

APPLlCATION FILED JAN. 5, I918- RENEWED JAN. 22, 1920.

1,334,751; Patented Mar. 23,1920.

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ATTORNEY.

4 P. R. G-RAY. CAR LOADING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED JAN-5,1918. RENEWED JAN- 22,1920.

Patented Mar. 23, 1920.

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PAUL B. GRAY, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB OF ONE-THIRD TO ARTHUR E. WILBER, OF SPRING-FIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

CAR-LOADING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented lllal'. 23, 1920.

Application filed January 5, 1918, Serial No. 210,465. Renewed January 22; 1920. Serial. No. 353,384. 2

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, PAUL R. GRAY, a citizen oi the United States of America, and a resident of Springfield, in the county of .lrlainpden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Car-Loading Apparatus, of which the following is a specification. i

My invention relates to improvements in dumping or discharging mechanism for loading cars, and resides in certain peculiar car-operated means for opening the chute, reservoir, or bin as a car enters beneath the same, and for closing said bin as said car passes out from beneath it, the action in each case being automatic, all as hereinafter set forth.

This apparatus is designed more especially for installation in phosphate or commercial fertilizer mills, but may be used elsewhere.

In mills of the type mentioned above it is usual to provide bins or chutes into which the fertilizer material or materials are discharged, by means of an elevator or conveyor, and cablecars arranged to he run under said chutes receive their loads and transport the latter to other localities. lizien are required to operate the clutches which control the cables that furnish the motive power to the cars, and other men are required to open the chutes as the cars are run beneath. them, and to close said chutes when said cars are hauled from beneath. them. as a rule one man being required for the clutch for each cable and the car attached thereto and one additional man for each chute, and the primary object of my invention is to provide automatic means or mechanism for opening and closing the chute from the car, thus dispensing with the services of one of the two men, and so materially cutting down the operating; 0.. oenses of the mill.

it further object is to furnish mechanism 01'? the type and for the purpose just stated which is more reliable and eihcient than the man displaced by said mechanism.

it still further object is to produce such car-operated ap} aratus which is comparatively simple and inexpensive in construc tion, can be installed readily in an old mill already equipped with a cable-car system and chute or chutes, as well as in a, new

mill or mill newly equipped, and is not liable to get out of order.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the course of the following description.

ll; preferred embodiment of the invention, whereby I attain the objects and secure the advantages oi. the same, is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and I will proceed to describe the invention with reference to said drawings, although it is to be understood that the form, construction, arrangement, etc, the parts in various respects are not material and may be modified without departure from the spirit of the invention.

lin the d airings, in which like numerals designate like parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 is a top plan of a car-operated apparatus embodying a. practical form of my invention as aforesaid, the car being at the inner end o'l its travel and the chute wide open; Fig. 2, a similar plan except that said car has passed out far enough to close said chute entirely; Fig. 3, a transverse, vertical section through said apparatus, taken on lines S 3, looking in the direction of the associated arrow, in Fig. 2, the car being omitted; Fig; 4;, a detail of one of the operating-arm connections, the terminals of the arms being broken oil, and the,

vertical rock-shaft to which said arms are attached being in cross-section; Fig- 5, an enlarged, fragmentary, top plan of one corner of the car, with the lug or dog attached thereto, and, Fig. 6, a sectional detail showing said rock-shaft and the bearings therefor, the section being on lines 6-43,

looking in the direction of the associated arrow, in Fig. 1, and the middle portion of said rocleshatt being broken out.

In order fully to illustrate my invention and explain the same, I have represented the ties 1 and rails 2 2 of a track in the first three views, with a car 4: on said track in the first two views, and a supporting structure for a hopper, bin, or chute 5, such structure comprising a pair of uprights 7 and a pair of horizontal beams 8. At 9 is represented a floor line. The chute 5 is supported on the beams 8, with the vertical center of said chute directly over the longitudinal center of the track below.

Thecar 4 is attached to a cable 10. The

. the man inquest-ion.

loaded. Among other reasons it is due to the presence of the aforesaid mechanism that the car can not be run past the chute and offaway from the same, in the direction inwhich said car is going when it approaches said chute, instead of being run back over the same course. Any suitable means may be employed for filling or loading the chute. Neither the cable mechanism or the loadingmeans is shown, since they constitute no part of the present invention.

The chute 5 is open at the top, and has sides which converge at the bottom where a'discharge opening 11 is located, as is cus tomarily the case in devices of this kind. Arranged to slide laterally through the base of the chute 5 is a slide 12 in which is an opening 13. The slide 12 is so proportioned and arranged that it completely closes the opening 11 in the chute 5, when said slide is actuated to the limit of travel in one direction, to the left herein illustrated, and completely uncovers said opening, when said slide is actuated in the other direction,

to the right in this case, far enough to bring the opening 13 in said slide into exact agreement with said opening 11.

Heretofore the services have been required of a man to move the slide 12 to open and close. the chute 5 or the opening 11 in the bottom thereof. The presence of my apparatus eliminates entirely the services of The parts and members described somewhat briefly above are all old and well known both structurally and functionally.

Passing now to the new elements, it may be said that in general they comprise oscillatory or rocking members so arranged in the path of the car 4 or of parts thereof that said members are actuated when said car enters beneath the chute and again when said car passes out, and other oscillatory or rocking members which are operated by the first to actuate the slide 11 into and out of closed position. These elements, including the subsidiary and auxiliary parts and members are described below.

A vertical rock-shaft 14 is journaled back of the track and the chute 5 in bearings 15--15see Fig. 6. The bearings 15 are secured to the floor-9 and a cross-piece 16, respectively, sald cross-piece being fastened tothe beams 8 behind the chute 5. Rigidly attached to the rock-shaft 14 are two horizontal bow-shaped members, or really two pairs of arcuate arms 17 and 18, arranged with their outer or free terminals project'- ing toward and over the car track. The arms 17 are below and the arms 18 above, and each pair of such arms is rigidly afiixed to the rock-shaft 14, by means of a key 19 and bolts 2020, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4. In these views the complete securing means for the arms 17 only appear, but the securing'means for the arms 18 are of a like nature in all respects. The keys 19 and the bolts 20 pass through hub flanges 21 with which the inner ends of the arms 17 and 18 are provided, said flanges in each pair being secured together and to the rock shaft by means of said bolts and keys. The arms 17 are the operating or cam arms, while the arms 18 are the slide-actuating ELI'IIIS.

Thecar 4 is provided. with projecting members to engage the inner, concave edges of the arms 17 and oscillate said arms. Thus it appears that the arms 17 are cam arms. Said projecting members may consist of brackets 23 and 24 which carry antifriction rollers 25-25. The brackets 23 and 24 are rigidly attached to one side of the car 4, immediately adjacent to the ends of said car, and on a level with the arms 17. For the purposes of this description the side of the car 4 which is adjacent to the rock-shaft 1.4, when said car is beneath the chute 5, will be termed the back side, the end of the car which passes first under the chute will be termed the front end, and the opposite end the rear end. The brackets 23 and 24 are both on the back side of the car 4, and said brackets are respectively at or adjacent to the front and rear ends of said car. The bracket 24, at the front end of the car, projects farther from the back side of said car than does the bracket 23, such extra amount of projection being suflicient to enable the bracket 23 or its roller 25 to pass the left-hand arm 17 without contacting therewith, as will presently appear.

When the car 4 enters beneath the chute 5, the roller 25 on the bracket 23 encounters the right-hand arm 17, forces it rearwardly, and so imparts a partial revolution to the rock-shaft 14 and correspondingly rocks and operates all of the members attached to said shaft; and, when said car passes out from beneath said chute, the roller 25 on the bracket 24 encounters or acts on the lefthand arm 17, forces the same back, and so restores the parts to their former position. The roller 25 on the bracket 23 clears the left-hand arm 17, both when the car enters and leaves the filling or loading position or station beneath the chute, because the bracket 24 has more projection than said bracket 23, and consequently throws said arm back far enough to be entirely out of the path of said roller. Thus unnecessary llij wear and tear and possible undesirable dis placement are avoided.

The arms 18 are on a level with the slide 12, they curve forward on both sides of'the chute 5, and are connected with said slide by means of ropes or cables 22-22. One end of each cable 22 is attached directly to one end of the slide 12 in the center, and the other end of said cable is attached by means of a clevis 26 to the outer end of its arm 18. In order to insure an approximately straight draft, in the line ofthe longitudinal center of the slide 12, on the part of each cable 22, a guide in the form of a vertical idler 27 is provided, such idler being mounted, at the lower end of an arm 28, in position to attain thedesired result. The cables pass from opposite ends of the slide 12 in front ofthe idlers 27 to the clevises 26, and run on said idlers, except when the outer end of either arm 18 passes forward of the vertical plane of the longitudinal center of said slide, at the time the slide nearly approaches the limit of its travel in one direction or the other, when the following arm terminal is that which carries the connected cable forward of the adjacent idler. Neither cable 22 is out of contact with its idler 27 to an extent which inter :teres with the required straight-away pull on the slide, there being some slight lostmotion, in the action of the oscillatory arms, which absorb r renders non-eii'ective the action of said cable while out oi contact with said idler.

The idlers are in the arcuate paths of travel of thearms 18 and may, therefore,

serve as stops for said arms to limit the for-- ward movement, and consequently the rearward movement, thereof.

The parts are so proportioned and ar' ranged that, when the right-hand arm 18 is actuated rearwardly, from the forward position, said arm acts through the connected cable 22 to draw the slide 12 to the right, bring the opening. 13 into registry with the opening 11, and so open the chute 5; and, when the left-hand arm 18 is actu= ated rearwardly, from its forward position, said last-named arm acts through the connected cable to draw said slide to the left and close said opening 11 with. the imperforate portion of the slide.

The operation of? the apparatus as a whole is described briefly as follows:

i 'issuming that the car 4 is at the loading station, as represented in Fig. 1, and has been nearly filled or loaded, the cablelO is set in motion to withdraw said car from said station and propel the same to the place where it is to be unloaded. Directly the car starts the roller 25 on the bracket 24- engages the left-hand arm 17 and comnences to actuate said arm rearwardly, with the result that, through the medium of the roclcshait 14, the companion arm 18 also is actuated rearward'ly. Thisleftdiand arm 18 causes the slide 12'to be moved to the left and so to close the opening 11, through. the medium of the intervening cable 22. By the time the car passes entirely from. beneath the chute the latter is completely: closed at the bottom by the slide. The car leaves the right hand arms 17 and 18 projecting well over the track, as shown in Fig; 2, and the left-hand arm 17 out of the path of the roller 25 on the bracket 24%,. in fact the parts are thus disposed and the chute completely closed by the time the right-hand roller 25 has passed clear of said left-hand arm.

Upon reversing the cable 10 the car 4 is returned to the chute 5 and run beneath the same again, when the roller 25 011 the bracket 23, having passed clear of the now rearwaidly-disposed, left-hand arm 17, encounters the other arm 17 and commences to actuate the ame rearwardly, with the result that, through the same medium as before, the companion arm 18, that is, the righthand arm 18, also is actuated in the same direction. The lastnamed arm causes the slide 12 to be moved to the. right and so to open the bottom of the chute 5, through the medium of the intervening cable 22. By the time the car arrives at the end oiwhat may be called its forward travel, the bottom of the chute i wide open. The left-hand arms 17 and 18 now project well across the track, they and the other parts and members being again disposed as shown in the first view.

It will be observed that the slide 12 is opened. and closed progressively respectively as the car enters and leaves the loading station, and in view of this the parts are so timed and the length ofthe car is such that the filling operation commences practically as soon as the front end of the car is under the opening first made when said slide begins to move to the right, and continues while the car is actuated or propelled to the limit of its normal forward travel, and until the car in returning leaves the position where it can receive such material. In other words, the slide 12 is open, whether partially or entirely, only at such times as the car is in position to receive the material which passes through the opening 13.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in carloading appa ratus, with a chute provided with a slide to open and close said chute, of oscillatory arms operatively connected with opposite ends of said slide, and adapted to move said slide into open or closed position according to the direction of movement imparted to said arms, and means to actuate said arms.

2. The combination, in car-loading apparatus, with a chute provided with a slide to open and close said chute, of oscillatory car-operated arms, and means connected with sald arms to actuate said slide" into open or closed position according to. the movement imparted to said arms. V I j 3. The combination, in car-operated apparatus, with a chute provided with a slide to open and close said chute, of oscillatory flexible connections between said arms and a 40 i o paratus, with a'chute provided with a slide opposite ends of said slide, guide members for said connections, said 'uide members being in the path of said slide beyond the limits of travel of the same, and means to actuate said arms, the arrangement of parts being such that said slide is moved into open or closed position by said arms and connections and according to the direction of movement imparted to said arms.

5. The combination, in car-operated apparatus, with a chute provided with a slide to open and close said chute, and a car, of a rock-shaft, cam arms secured to said shaft and extending into the path of said car, other arms secured to said shaft,

,and connecting operating means between said last-named arms and opposite ends of said slide, whereby the latter is actuated into open or closed position according to the direction of movement imparted to said arms by said car. I

6. The combination, in car-operated aprocker arms extending into the paths of said members and adapted to be actuated alternately in opposite directions thereby, one of said members engaging one of said arms, and the other of said members ongaging the other of said arms and moving it out of the path of said first-named menr ber, and means operatively connected with said arms to operate said slide.

8. The combination, in car operated a paratus, with a chute provided with a sli e to open and close the same, and further provided with guide arms which extend into the path of said slide at both ends and beyond the limits of travel of the slide, and a car having projecting members, of a rockshaft, two pairs of arms secured to said shaft,the arms in one pair extending into the paths ofsaid projecting members, and flexible connections between the arms in the other pair and the ends of said slide, said guide arms being in operative position relative to said'flexible connections.

PAUL R. GRAY.

VVitnesSes:

A. C. FAIRBANKS, F. A. CUTTER. 

